What Is Love?

2-9-12

Ah...February.....National Heart Month, National Marriage Month, National Empty Your Pockets On Trinkets & Chocolate Month.

Where did January go?  Here we are almost Mid-February and staring down the barrels of Valentine's Day.  This is the month we celebrate our love for each other, shower each other with romantic cards and gifts.  But what is love?  Is it a chemical mix that happens in our brains causing an euphoric feeling or is it something else.  Love is an action verb not a complacent noun or an elated feeling.  Love is putting the thoughts, will, feelings, well being and best interests of another person or persons over your own thoughts, will, feelings, well being, and interests.  Love is a sacrifice.  It will cost you something and sometimes everything.

Today, love is thrown around lightly as if it is some magical thing to be cast upon someone to make that person do what we want him or her to do for us.  We love them as long as they give us what we want.  We love in word only and not in deed.  Is this love? I think not.

Even in the Church, the Body of Christ, we say "I love you" to people then talk about them when their backs are turned.  This is NOT the love we are supposed to have one for another.  We turn our backs on those who have wronged us instead of loving them.  We criticize those who do not do things according to our purposes, desires, and needs.  If we are not catered to, we pout and stomp our feet like children.  If we feel slighted by one of the people we claim we love, we don't speak to that person for months until they come to us and ask what's wrong.  Is this love?  I think not.

In the work place, our bosses may tell us "We love you and think the world of you" but plot to fire us at the first sign of any conceived insurrection without the possibility of defending ourselves.  They applaud us in front of some only to back stab us in front of others.  Is this love?  I think not.

Jesus spoke relentlessly about love. Mark 12:30-31 tells us, "And you shall love the Lord your God out of and with your whole heart and out of and with all your soul (your life) and out of and with all your mind (with [d]your faculty of thought and your moral understanding) and out of and with all your strength. This is the first and principal commandment. The second is like it and is this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these." If we truly love God, then we should truly love those around us.

1 John 4:20 tells us that if our love for God is reflected in our love for others, "If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?" 1 John 2:15 says, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him."

John 13:34 says, "I give you a new commandment: that you should love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you too should love one another." John 15:12-13 says, "This is My commandment: that you love one another [just] as I have loved you. No one has greater love [no one has shown stronger affection] than to lay down (give up) his own life for his friends."

So what is love?  1 Corinthians 13:3-8 tells is, "Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily.  It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God's love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong]. It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail.Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening].Love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end]. As for prophecy ([d]the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose), it will be fulfilled and pass away; as for tongues, they will be destroyed and cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away [it will lose its value and be superseded by truth]."

1 Peter 4:8 tells us, "Above all things have intense and unfailing love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins [forgives and [a]disregards the offenses of others]".  In other words, we don't go around pointing out the past or present sins of others.  We love them in spite of who they are.  We look past what was there and is there to see what could be there.  Love looks to the future of a person, not their past.

When another points out the failings of a person, the love in us should cover that person and the one bringing the accusation. Love sees the sinner who is in need of a Savior not the sin. So often, we hate the sinner and wink at the sin.  Galatians 6:1 gives us this admonition, "Brethren, if any person is overtaken in misconduct or sin of any sort, you who are spiritual [who are responsive to and controlled by the Spirit] should set him right and restore and reinstate him, without any sense of superiority and with all gentleness, keeping an attentive eye on yourself, lest you should be tempted also."  This is love in action.

The next time, you tell someone you love them, mean what you say and live what you say.

Most scriptures taken from the Amplified Version.  Some taken from the King James Version.

What Dreams Do Come

Most of my dreams I ignore...they tend to be bad pizza or some strange concoction of late night television.  The dream I had this morning before waking has stirred in me in such a way I can't let it go.  Over the past several months, I have been indulging in a study of the Hebrew names of God.  My personal growth has expounded, and I believe this is where this dream stems.

Let me set the stage for you:  I am waiting with several others to go somewhere.  We are all in what appears to be an airport/mall type place.  We are all talking about various things and walking around looking in the shops while we wait for our turn to go on our journey.  Our turn comes.....

A group of us are escorted to a beautiful room where we change into white robes with gold and crimson sashes.  Jesus appears there to us.  He seems to stay at my side the entire time.  I cling to Him, just holding on to Him. He give me a purple sash to go with the ones I already have.  I just keep holding to Him.  Then He tells me He has to step away for a moment but will be back shortly.  After He leaves, the odd little distractions start happening.  A place opens up like a puppet show behind where I am standing.  These really weird puppets start dancing around and trying to convince people to leave the area and go with them.  Some do....but I look around and I see Jesus standing off to the side.  He just smiles at me.  He disappears and the reappears on another side of the room.  And again, He is smiling at me. It seems no one else can see Him but me.

Then the puppets shriek and disappear and Jesus comes full into view stepping out from behind a rich burgundy velvet curtain.  He comes to me with a bowl and a pitcher.  He stoops down where I am sitting and takes off my shoes and begins to wash my feet.  I keep telling Him that I am unworthy for Him to do that and then I say with tears streaming something to the effect for Him to wash my head and hands too.  He just chuckles and stands up, kisses my forehead and say, "So much like Peter....Time to go."  And that's when I woke up.  This dream has left me broken in so many ways.  The Master of all the Universe was showing Himself, as always, a Servant of all - an example to be followed.

But the thing that has captured my attention more than anything is this, I don't remember hearing His heartbeat.  As much as I was holding Him and close to Him, I never once heard the beat of His heart. Then this thought came to me, His heartbeat is the Church, the Body of Christ.  As long as the Body of Christ is on the earth, we can hear His heartbeat.  It is up to us to show the world the real Jesus.  We are to reveal the heartbeat of the Father to the world -- people. God love all of us so much that He was willing to send His only Son to the earth to be the perfect sacrifice for the remission of sins.  How much more can someone love?  Jesus, for the love of mankind, gave up His throne in glory to dwell among us, to serve us, to teach us.  He loved us so much.

We can't even begin to comprehend how much He loves us.  I just wish I could convey to you the amazing love He has towards us.  I wish I had the words to describe accurately the feeling I had from this dream.  All I can do is tell you what I saw and hope it blesses you.

When was the last time you raked your yard?

Today, I was feeling rather ambitious and decided to rake the back yard.  Mind you by back yard is more of a hard incline than a yard so it hasn't been raked much. As far as I know, it never has been in the 5 years we have lived here.  Sad, I know.  Would you want to rake a uphill?

As I began raking, I could smell the decay of rotting pine straw.  Underneath all the pine straw, fallen branches, and twigs was the darkest soil - rich and fertile.  Also as I raked, I noticed the roughness and dangerousness of the terrain.  My kids have been playing on this mountainous like rise without fear.  They could have been hurt by something hiding under the compost of straw, leaves, pine cones, and branches.

It makes me wonder what is hiding under the leaves and straw of our lives.  Is there something dangerous hiding that could cause hurt and pain to another?  Is there something undealt with in our lives that could be a potential danger to our loved ones and those we minister to?

My raking the yard showed me that underneath the surface of our lives, we have treacherous terrain.  As we navigate through life, things of this world pile up on us. People wound us and we move on thinking we are okay, but we have just buried the problem without dealing with it.  The wounds cause our hearts to become rough and buckled.  We react to others in a snappy, rude, judgmental, critical attitude.  Things may look harmless when covered by layers upon layers of trash and spiritual masks.  Deep down there are wounds and scars that we have not allowed God to heal. We pitch fits to get our way and bully others into submitting to our desires.  We point fingers at where they are missing the mark, but never seeing where we ourselves have gotten off track.

How after, we criticize others for their reactions or their lives don't measure up to our standards.  The Word should be the standard for their lives and our own. It is not our place to say one person is not able to be used of the Lord because we don't agree with their walk.  We are to work out our OWN salvation with fear and trembling (see Philippians 2:12).  We as Christians should take a good look at our own lives and hearts.  It's easy to sit back on the pew Sunday after Sunday, Wednesday after Wednesday and see the faults in others without first removing the debris from our own lives.  The Bible says in Matthew 7:3, "Why do you stare from without at the very small particle that is in your brother's eye but do not become aware of and consider the beam of timber that is in your own eye?" (AMP)

Hear the words of 1 Corinthians 13:4-7,

"Love is kind and patient, never jealous, boastful, proud, or rude. Love isn't selfish or quick tempered. It doesn't keep a record of wrongs that others do. Love rejoices in the truth, but not in evil. Love is always supportive, loyal, hopeful, and trusting."

The Amplified states verse 5 like this: 

"It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God's love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong]."

Did you catch that?  Love is "not self-seeking".  When we criticize another based on our own standards, we are being self-seeking.  If we are truly walking in love, then we will see through the eyes of love and see the second thing I saw in my yard.

The second thing I found while raking was rich soil underneath the pine straw. The rich soil of our lives in contrast to the terrain is the Word we have allowed to soak deep within us.  That good part of our lives that is so hidden by outward displays.  The outward is all most people ever see.  It's easy to find fault when all you see is life's debris on a person. After all is swept away, we can really see what a person really is.  There is an inward work going on in each and every one of us.  We must be willing to be raked over by the Holy Ghost so that those things that should not be in our lives to be removed.  There is fertile ground in each of us.  What we plant there is up to us.  Plant good things in each other and you will reap the good in yourself.  Philippians 2:3 states, " Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves". (KJV) 

All of this from raking my back yard.  God works in mysterious ways.  This one thing I take away from my outside activity, we will only be able to help others when we first rake our own yard.

Overcoming the Fear of the Hammer

I had always been intimidated by the thought of hammering my own pieces of jewelry. I was worried that it wouldn’t come out right or that I wouldn’t enjoy it, or it would be too hard to do.  I was just content to buy pre-made pieces from other artisans, local stores, or online. Then last year, I met a young woman named Jonah.  After conversing with her for about 10 minutes or so, I decided to have a go at it.

I bought a small Ball - Peen hammer at a local craft store and some cheap metal wire. At first, it was a bit daunting. I had the hammer and wire, now what?! It took me about a week before I actually used it.  The solid concrete floor of my den became my anvil. The cheap wire had a copper core that showed through the steel coating giving my first pieces a very unique look. They were strange looking things, but I was making things none the less. The more I became comfortable, the higher grade wire and metal blanks I began to work with. Finally, I invested in a steel bench block. The very thing I had been intimidated by is now a great source of stress relief. It took a bit of faith in myself to overcome my fears.

Just because something seems hard doesn’t mean that it isn’t worth having a go at it. A lot of times we feel that we can’t do or we aren’t capable.  We are.  We have this tainted view of life that if we do something wrong, we will be a total failure. Not true. Philippians 4:13 says in the Amplified, “I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency]”.
We have a tainted view of God as this angry deity who has a massive hammer over us waiting for us to mess up so he can smash us flat.  Again, not so. Romans 5:8 in the Amplified says, “But God shows and clearly proves His [own] love for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) died for us.”  His hammer is just and swift yes, but it is also gentle. True, He does chastens those He loves (Hebrews 12:6). But out of His love for us, He is gentle and brings healing along with His chastenings.

The hammer we fear may be the judgment we feel others have towards us.  Be of good cheer, for who can be against us if God be for us (Romans 8:31)?  Paul said he felt it a small thing to be judged of others (1 Corinthians 4:3). And so should we.  Yes, our failures are the things that people seem to dwell on and point out to us. Our failures do not define us. It is how we recover from our failures that defines us. If we keep going learning from our mistakes, it make us stronger.  If we allow our mistakes to cripple us and hold us back, then we have just proved all of the nay-sayers right.
We must be willing to fail in order to succeed.

Be Blessed.